The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for painting and in particular to a paint pad on which the mounting plate carries a paint pad on one side and has projections on the other side to which a handle is removably attached to the mounting plate.
Currently, painters use brushes or rollers to paint large wall surfaces in an efficient manner. However, using brushes or rollers to paint to the edge of a wall surface, without painting the adjacent wall surface is extremely difficult, if not impossible. These paint applicators necessitate frequent renewal by reapplying the tape to the surface adjacent the surface being painted or require re-painting of the edge of the surface being painted, at considerable expense and effort. Several devices have been developed to solve this problem.
One device is a paint pad that is coupled to a flat mounting plate. The mounting plate has four spacer means that extend beyond the mounting plate, each spacer means extends beyond at least two edges of the paint pad. A disadvantage of such device is that mounting plate substantially covers the spacer means, thus making it very difficult to sufficiently clean the spacer means if paint is picked up by the spacer means, which prevents the spacer means from rolling if desired and causes the spread of paint on the spacer means to spread to the adjacent surface.
Another device is a coating pad device having projections on one side of the pad for locking the shaft of the handle in one of three positions. One disadvantage of such device is a lack of means for neatly painting the edges between two surfaces. Another disadvantage of such device is a lack of flexibility for the paint handle""s motion, since the handle is locked in one of only three positions. A further disadvantage of such device is that the support shaft has to be snapped into the locking projections, which would be difficult if projections had paint on their surfaces, particularly when the paint pad was removed and replaced with a new paint pad. Yet a further disadvantage of such device is a lack of a projection on one side with the locking projections, (a stop block) which would rest directly at the end of the support shaft and restrict the motion of the handle along its axis with respect to the pad.
Another type of device uses a flat pad having a fixed blade along one edge of the pad. During loading of the pad, paint is unavoidably applied to the edge. Paint must then be wiped from the edge before applying paint to the adjacent surface. The result is that the paint operation becomes messy and wasteful.
The previous devices do not provide for a clean painted line between adjacent surfaces at the same time allowing quick and efficient access to spacer for cleanup and allowing for a fully rotatable handle coupled to a paint pad, wherein the paint pad does not slip perpendicular with respect to the motion of applying paint with the paint pad.
The present invention provides a paint pad apparatus for applying paint to a surface comprising: a mounting plate, preferably in the shape of a rectangle, having a top and a bottom face; a paint pad attached to the bottom face of the mounting plate; a plurality of upwardly extending projections attached along the top face of the mounting plate, the projections having internal cavities capable of supporting an end portion of a shaft of a handle; a stop block projection attached along the top face of the mounting plate, to stop the end portion of the shaft of the handle; and a plurality of spacers rotatably attached along the top face of the mounting plate for maintaining the paint pad apparatus at a uniform distance from a surface adjacent the surface being painted. At least two spacers extend outwardly beyond at least two sides of the mounting plate and at least two spacers extend outwardly beyond one side of the mounting plate. The alignment projections, the upwardly extending projections, and the stop block projection are preferably integrally attached to the top surface of the mounting plate.
In a further embodiment of the invention the paint pad apparatus comprises at least two alignment projections attached along the top face of the mounting plate to allow alignment of an end portion of a shaft of a handle.
In yet a further embodiment the paint pad apparatus comprises a plurality of tabs along the bottom face of the mounting plate, the tabs extend inwardly along at least two opposing peripheral edges of the mounting plate to allow mounting of the paint pad.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.